


it tastes like you, only sweeter

by EmmyLouWho



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Candy, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Harry is angsty about being a second year, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Honeydukes, Sappy, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 10:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8442928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyLouWho/pseuds/EmmyLouWho
Summary: Sometimes Harry hates being a second year, like when all his older friends get to go to Hogsmeade and he has to stay behind in the castle. Luckily, Harry has a Louis to make everything better. 
For the prompt: “I’m not allowed to go to Hogsmeade but you always tell me stories about it and bring me candy from Honeydukes”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" by Fall Out Boy. 
> 
> Harry Potter AU's are my absolute favourite, so I really enjoyed writing this!
> 
> I deliberately left the boys' Houses ambiguous. You can make your own headcanons about which House(s) they'd be in ;)
> 
> Enjoy!

Harry sighed and put his head down on the desk, straight on top of his open textbook. He could smell the musty pages of the book every time he took a breath. He was supposed to be making the most of the quiet while everyone was gone, and doing some research for his Transfiguration essay which was due next Friday. 

Harry liked to stay on top of all his homework so he wouldn’t have to stress about it at the last minute. That way, when the last minute arrived and his friends were all frantically trying to write inches and inches of parchment, Harry could fetch them cups of tea and sandwiches and making sure they were all okay. 

Despite being the youngest of his friendship group, Harry was definitely the ‘mum’, and he was proud of it. He liked taking care of people, and he liked making sure his friends were happy. 

Today, he had started out with good intentions to be productive. He’d picked out his favourite table in the library, and had pulled the heavy book he needed from the shelf, carrying it over to his table with both hands. He’d found the chapter he needed to read for his essay, but he’d been here for over an hour already and he still hadn’t made it past the third paragraph. The chapter was _fifty-six pages long._

The trouble was, his mind kept wandering off, wondering what the others were doing. What _Louis_ was doing. Harry sighed again, and the pages ruffled underneath him. 

Being a second year was the _worst_. You didn’t get all the excitement and special attention and _newness_ of being a first year, all the work was so much harder, and you didn’t even have any of the special privileges you got being in third year. Yes, Harry thought, second year was definitely the worst year. Especially when all your friends are in third year. Especially when all your friends are in third year, and they are all allowed to go to Hogsmeade on the special weekends, and you have to stay back at the castle on your own because you’re a stupid twelve year old baby. 

Harry knew he was being dramatic. He wasn’t the _only_ one left, he still had his friend Niall who was also a second year, and there were others in the castle who were either also too young to be allowed to go, or who had been so many times that the novelty had worn off.

It was just hard, every time it was a Hogsmeade weekend, and Harry watched everyone get dressed and line up excitedly to go out and have adventures, and Harry had to stay behind and do the same things he always did. He couldn’t wait to come back to school next year as a third year, and be able to join the others. Only a few months left now, he thought. 

Harry looked down at the book once more before deciding that there was no way he was going to get anything more done this afternoon. He closed the giant tome, and with some difficulty, carried it back to the shelf. 

It only occurred to him afterwards that he probably could have levitated it. That would definitely have been easier. _Stupid little second year_ , he thought. A third year would definitely know better. 

Once he had packed all his materials back into his bag, leaving the desk clean and tidy (so as not to anger the ancient librarian), he headed back to his dormitory. 

Reading was obviously out, what with the way his eyes felt like they might fall out of his skull if he tried. He didn’t feel like going for a walk or practicing spells or trying to find someone to play Exploding Snap with him or any of the other things he normally did in his free time, so he decided to take a nap to pass the time until the others came back.

He crawled under the covers, snuggling into his duvet and breathing in the unique Hogwarts smell that he loved. He wondered if it might be something to do with the washing powder the house elves used on the sheets…but did house elves even use washing powder? Surely they would just use magic. Also, it didn’t explain why the scent would be present throughout the whole castle. Maybe it was just the smell of Hogwarts’ magic itself, he thought, and it was just extra-concentrated in the bedding. 

Harry didn’t remember falling asleep, and when he woke up again, the room was a bit darker and there was someone lying behind him, cuddled up close in the single bed. Harry smiled to himself. _Louis._ He rolled over and found himself face to face with his best friend. He wasn’t asleep, he was just staring at the ceiling, and when Harry turned over he grinned at him. 

“Hiya, Haz,” he said. “Have a good nap?”

“I did, thank you for asking,” Harry said primly, then sat up in bed and started poking Louis’ arm. “How was it today, Lou? What did you do?” 

Harry hated when all the older students came back from Hogsmeade in the evenings, talking loudly about all the fun they’d had and all the Butterbeer they’d drunk, but with Louis it was different. Louis always came to him and told him whispered stories, just for him. He described the magic of Hosgmeade in a way that made Harry feel like he was part of it too, instead of feeling left out. 

And - most importantly - he always, without fail, brought Harry back new sweets from Honeydukes to try. As if he had read his mind (Harry did sometimes wonder, with the way that they seemed to be so in tune all the time), Louis produced a small white paper bag, sealed with the familiar golden Honeydukes logo. 

“Your special delivery,” Louis announced grandly, handing Harry the bag as if it contained precious jewels. 

“What it it this time?” Harry asked, reverence clear in his voice. 

“Why don’t you open it and see?” Louis suggested, and Harry stuck his tongue out at him. 

He did open the bag though, carefully, so he wouldn’t rip the paper. 

“There’s some Fizzing Whizbees,” Louis explained, “and some Coconut Mice, and there’s also this new salted caramel fudge they were trying out.” 

Harry was smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. His best friend was the best. “You’re the best,” he told Louis, “thank you so much!” 

Louis had a faint blush on his cheeks. “Anything to make my favourite second year smile.”

“What shall we try first?” Harry asked. 

“The fudge?” Louis suggested, and Harry reached in and retrieved two pieces. He made sure to give Louis the bigger one. As per tradition when trying a new sweet, they clinked their pieces together and said “cheers!” before taking the first bite.

The fudge was lovely and creamy and it tasted a bit different than the usual caramel sweets. That was the salt part, Harry supposed. He thought he liked it, but he took another bite just to make sure. He looked over at Louis nibbling on his piece, and he felt warm all the way down to his toes. Maybe it was the fudge, or maybe it was his overwhelming gratitude that Louis went to all this effort to specially pick out sweets for them to try together, and to turn his negative feelings into positive ones and to make sure that Harry never ever felt left out, not when Louis was around. 

“So what do you think, Haz, a seven?” Louis asked.

“No, eight!” Harry said definitively. 

They’d developed a complex rating system the first time Louis had come back from Hogsmeade, based on the sweets’ appearance, taste, and uniqueness. They were usually pretty close in their ratings, but whenever they disagreed, Louis always conceded to Harry’s choice. He said that Harry was a sweets expert, and his opinion was not to be argued with, which always made Harry laugh because it was just about the only time when Louis didn’t insist on being right. 

Louis wrote down their new rating on the piece of parchment that they were using to keep track of all their sweets tasting. They’d had several ‘eights’ by now, and even a couple of ‘nines’ but they were still searching for the elusive ‘ten’. Harry was optimistic that they’d find it one day, and even if they didn’t, he was having much too fun doing this with Louis to ever want to stop. 

“Did you buy anything else today?” Harry asked. 

“A new quill,” Louis said, “since Elphie’s run off with mine again and I’ve had to start using my spare one.” 

Louis’ cat was always stealing his things. Sometimes they were returned, weeks later and in pristine condition, but other times they were never seen again. Harry liked to think that Elphie had a secret hideout somewhere in the castle where she had a giant pile of Louis’ belongings formed into some kind of nest. He didn’t blame her - he would probably make a nest of Louis’ things too if it wouldn’t be so weird. He always wore the softest jumpers. Harry thought they would be quite comfortable in a nest. 

“Oh,” Louis added, “and I got some more broom polish for Harry Junior, he was looking a bit dull.”

“I still can’t believe you named your broom after me.”

“For the last time, I _did not_ name my broom after you,” Louis said in the exasperated manner one can only manage when they’re repeating something they’ve said hundreds of times before. 

“Harry Junior is named after the phenomenal - and rather more famous, I might add - Harry Potter, who is everything I aim to be as a Quidditch player, even though he was a Seeker and I am in the far more fun position of Chaser.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Lou,” Harry teased. He didn’t even mind when Louis pushed him clear off the bed, he was laughing too hard to feel the pain of the fall, and besides, it was always worth it to see Louis’ annoyed face. 

His melancholy from earlier in the day was all gone now, siphoned out by Louis’ mere presence and replaced with a feeling of happiness that tingled his fingertips. Harry clambered back onto the bed, and Louis held out the paper bag again. 

“Next one?”

They decided that the Coconut Mice only deserved a ‘five’. Louis liked the flavour, but Harry thought the way he could feel the sugary mice running around in his tummy for a moment after eating them was too disconcerting. 

“Do you want to hear about something funny that happened today?” Louis asked. 

“Yes,” Harry said eagerly. What a silly question. He always liked Louis’ stories. 

“Well,” Louis started, taking another couple of Coconut Mice and putting them in his mouth. Harry shuddered. “Have you ever heard of the Shrieking Shack?”

Harry nodded. He’d heard the older students talking about it in the common room before. Apparently it was haunted, and one sixth year had sworn that they’d seen purple smoke coming out of it once. Harry was sceptical, but he guessed until he had the chance to see the Shack for himself, he’d have to take their word for it. 

“Okay. So, today, Liam decided that he wanted to go see the Shack up close,” he said, “I think he was trying to impress Sophia.”

“Sophia Smith?” Harry asked.

“Yep,” said Louis, “he kept looking over at her and her friends to check if she was looking at him.”

“Was she?” 

“Not a chance,” Louis said, “I think she’s dating that fourth year, Sam Whats-his-name, but I haven’t the heart to break the news to Liam.”

Harry giggled. 

“Anyway,” Louis continued, “like I said, Liam decided he wanted to get close to the Shack this time. Normally we just stay behind the fence, see. So, Liam creeps up all close to the Shack, nearly breaking his neck from turning to look at Sophia, when suddenly the tiniest owl I’ve ever seen flies behind him, and screeches. Poor Liam jumped near six foot in the air I reckon, and he fell flat on his face in the snow. Probably a good thing Sophia wasn’t watching him, after all, she’d never had gone for him after seeing him make a fool of himself like that.”

Harry was screeching with laughter now, rolling around on the bed. Louis looked pleased at having garnered this reaction. He did love a responsive audience. 

“Alright, let’s try the last one, then it’s probably time for bed,” Louis said, checking the whizzing hands of the watch on his wrist. He pulled out two Fizzing Whizbees - one pink and one orange - and they “cheers”-ed before ultimately (and unanimously) declaring them to be a ‘nine’. 

Louis rolled up the leftover sweets in the bag and handed them to Harry, who tucked them carefully away in his drawer for safe-keeping, next to his letters from his Mum. 

Harry gave Louis a big hug before he left, giving him an extra squeeze to show him how much he appreciated what he’d done today. Louis gave him a smile that said he understood what Harry was trying to say, and patted him on the cheek. 

“G’night Harold,” he said, skipping out of the room to go to his own bed, “see you at breakfast tomorrow?”

Harry nodded. _Of course._ He and Louis had breakfast together every morning, sometimes with the others, sometimes just the two of them. It was always nice going to sleep knowing that he could count on Louis being there waiting for him again in the morning. 

Once Louis was gone, Harry snuggled back down into his covers again. He didn’t even change into his pyjamas, suddenly he was too tired to move. _Maybe_ , Harry thought, already feeling himself fall asleep, _being a second year wasn’t that bad after all._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought :)


End file.
